Tortorella Leads the League

Tony Shoshi scored Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller’s first goal in its 7-on-7 game with Cuenca at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on May 21.
Craig Macnaughton

Tortorella Pools maintained its hold on first place in the Wednesday evening 7-on-7 men’s soccer league by defeating Bateman Painting 6-1 at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on May 21, thus improving to 3-0-0.

Maidstone Market, which played to a scoreless tie with Cuenca F.C. earlier that evening, was in second place going into last night’s games, at 1-0-2, followed by Cuenca and Hampton F.C.-Bill Miller, each at 1-1-1, Bateman Painting, at 1-2-0, and F.C. Tuxpan, at 0-3-0.

Scoring for Tortorella in its game with Bateman were Stiven Orrego (two), David Rodriguez III (two), and Cristian Gonzalez. Its last goal was an “own goal,” backheaded into the nets by a Bateman defender.|

In addition, Rodriguez had two assists, and Eddie Lopez and Daniel Londono each had one. Alejandro (Alas) Bolanos, Tortorella’s goalie, made five saves.

The Bill Miller-Tuxpan and Maidstone-Cuenca games were more competitive.

Tony Shoshi, a native of Kosovo, got Bill Miller (last spring’s champion) on the scoreboard in the first contest, when he put in the rebound of a shot taken by his Ukrainian-born teammate, Andriy Pozdniakov, in the early going.

Duvan Castro, who coaches Bill Miller, told the players during halftime to “keep it simple, don’t make things complicated — relax, pass, and wait for them to make mistakes.”

Olger (Quique) Araya, Bill Miller’s goalie, made a great save early in the second period to maintain the 1-0 lead, and not long afterward Oscar Reinoso converted a long pass from Carlos Torres, beating Tuxpan’s goalie, Antonio Chavez, with an acutely angled shot from the right side for a 2-0 Bill Miller lead.

Ryan Bauer and his twin, Casey, who play for Fairleigh Dickinson University and who were new to Tuxpan’s lineup that night, combined on Tuxpan’s goal, which was kicked in by the former.

Leslie Czeladko, who oversees the league, said that without the Bauer twins Tuxpan would have had to forfeit that night.

After the game, Castro said, “We’ve been playing well together. We tied Maidstone Market 1-1 and lost 2-1 to Bateman in a very physical game, though there were no red cards. It’s early in the season, but things are looking good. Half of our team is new. It’s the first time Tony’s played for us, and it’s the first season for Carlos too.”

Castro also coaches East Hampton’s men’s over-30 soccer team, Hampton United, which plays in the Suffolk men’s soccer league’s second division. “We’ve been doing great,” he said when questioned. “We’re in second place. Since I took over, in the spring, we’re 8-1-1. I’ve added some good guys, including Alejandro Landeros and Gerard Lynch [a strong Bill Miller defender who is a forward on the over-30 team]. If we finish in the top two, we’ll move up to Division 1.”

Castro said that Charruas 1950, a Uruguayan team from Brentwood, led the over-30s, with 56 points, that Hampton United was second, with 46, and that Manorville was third, with 44.

Maidstone Market, a frequent 7-on-7 champion, played a man-down for most of its game with Cuenca after John Romero was ejected following a hard foul. His teammate Mathew Ramirez drew a yellow card from the referee, Alex Ramirez, when he took Romero’s side, which conferred a 6-4 advantage on Cuenca for two minutes leading up to halftime.

Both goalies, Corey DeRosa for Maid­stone and Luis Bautista for Cuenca, were put to the test in the second half, but neither yielded. And despite being a man-down, Maidstone, with Antonio Padilla and Gehider Garcia leading the way, remained a threat throughout the final half-hour of play.